KR20140007529A - Apparatus and method for taking a picture in camera device and wireless terminal having a camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

An image photographing method for a camera device comprises an autofocus photographing process of moving a focus lens at predetermined focus gaps for continuous shooting and storing a focus value on the focused areas of a photographed image with the image by extracting the focus value and a focus resetting process of displaying a representative image of the stored autofocus image and selecting and storing the image which has the maximum focus value in the focus area of a selected position when the position of the image is selected. [Reference numerals] (611) Driving a focus actuator to an initial position; (613) Photographing; (615) Extracting a focus value in a focus area; (617) Image and focus value stored; (619) Last focus position?; (621) Driving the focus actuator to a next position; (AA) Start; (BB) End

Description

Apparatus and method for taking images of cameras {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TAKING A PICTURE IN CAMERA DEVICE AND WIRELESS TERMINAL HAVING A CAMERA DEVICE}

The present invention relates to a camera and an image capturing device and method of a mobile terminal having a camera, and more particularly to a device and method capable of processing an autofocus image.

In general, a camera device or a mobile terminal having a camera has an auto-focusing function, and when a still image is taken, the camera focuses on a focus area set by a developer or a manufacturer according to the movement of the focus lens. Only one image with the largest Focus Value (FV) is saved. However, in the conventional camera device, a predetermined autofocus function is a function of focusing a fixed area or selecting a specific area by a complex algorithm. In this case, the user may focus on a portion that the user does not want, and even if the candidate image is not focused on the desired portion, it is impossible to make the image focused on the portion.

The present invention proposes an apparatus and method for capturing images of different focal points in a camera or a portable terminal including a camera, and allowing a user to arbitrarily select and store an image in focus.

To this end, the camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention proposes an apparatus and method for storing a plurality of images in a memory or a buffer while the focus lens moves during a focus operation during image capturing. The present invention also proposes an apparatus and method for providing a function of displaying or storing an image in which autofocus fits when a user selects an image or a specific part of the image in a post view state.

In the image processing method of the camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, the autofocus photographing to continuously shoot the focus lens at a set focus interval, and to extract the focus values for the focus areas of the captured image and to store them together with the image. And displaying a representative image of the stored autofocus image, and selecting and storing an image having the maximum focus value in the focus area of the selected position when selecting the position of the image.

In addition, the camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, the camera unit for continuously photographing while moving the focus lens at a set focus interval, and extracts the focus values for the focus areas of the image photographed by the camera unit and transmits it with the image. An image processing unit, a storage unit storing a focus value and an image, and an image and a focus value transmitted from the image processing unit are stored in the storage unit, and displaying the representative image of the stored autofocus when the focus is reset, and displaying the displayed image. And a control unit for selecting an image having the maximum focus value in the focus area of the selected position in the image to be stored in the storage unit, and a display unit for displaying the image under the control of the control unit.

The image processing method of the camera apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention includes an autofocus photographing process of continuously photographing and storing a focus lens at a set focus interval, and for focus areas of the stored images when a focus reset request is made. After extracting the focus value, a representative image of the stored autofocus image is displayed, and when the focus position is selected from the displayed representative image, a focus reset process of selecting and storing the image having the maximum focus value in the focus region of the selected position is performed. It is done.

The present invention enables the user to create an image in which a desired part of the image is in focus after taking a picture, thereby providing a new function that was not possible with a conventional camera.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a camera unit in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention having the configuration as illustrated in FIG. 1.
3A and 3B are diagrams showing the configuration of an image processor and a controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing unit according to another embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of performing autofocus photographing and editing in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of performing an autofocus shooting operation in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating an example of a focus area and an image of autofocus photographed images according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating an example of a focus value extracted from an image as illustrated in FIG. 7A.
8 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for resetting focus of an autofocused image in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9A-9C illustrate examples of a focus area having a maximum focus value among autofocus images according to an embodiment of the present invention.
10A and 10B are diagrams for describing a display example of a focus area having a maximum focus value using a scroll bar according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which a camera apparatus photographs images of different focus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
12 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of refocusing a captured image according to another embodiment of the present invention in a camera apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the same configurations of the drawings denote the same reference numerals as possible whenever possible.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for allowing an auto focus function to allow a user to arbitrarily adjust a point on which an image is in focus after capturing an image in a photographing apparatus. The apparatus and method of the present invention store a plurality of images in memory or a buffer while the focus lens is moving during a focus operation, and selects a specific portion of the image or image selected by the user in a post view state. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for providing a function of displaying or storing an image in which autofocus fits on a portion thereof when selected.

In the following description, a mobile terminal having a camera or a camera will be referred to as a camera device.

Camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention has a function to adjust the focus, while photographing a plurality of images corresponding to each of the focus while the focus lens is driving, and at the same time each focus lens when storing the image of each focus The focus value is stored for each focus area of the image according to the movement. The mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention displays a representative image when displaying an image, and when the user selects an arbitrary region in the state of displaying the representative image, the mobile terminal displays an image having the maximum focus value of the region. Allows you to adjust the focus arbitrarily.

In this case, the focus values of the respective focus areas use a focus window of the image processing apparatus ISP, the focus values of the focus areas are simultaneously stored in the form of metadata and the meter data is selected. Can be used to find the maximum focus of the. In this case, the method of displaying the image having the maximum focus value may display the intermediate images of the focus lens position of the current image and the focus lens position of the image having the maximum focus value so that the image may be naturally changed.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the camera unit 110 includes an image sensor, focuses by driving a focus lens, and performs a function of acquiring an image through the image sensor. The camera unit 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention generates a plurality of images having different focus while changing the focus when a picture taking request. That is, the camera unit 110 generates a plurality of images while changing the focus when capturing an image, and the plurality of images generated are images having different focal lengths.

The image processor 120 processes and outputs the image acquired from the camera 110 in a form that can be displayed on the display 150 and / or stored in the storage 140. In this case, the image processor 120 may be configured in various forms. The image processing unit 120 may receive an image output from the camera unit 110 and scale it to a size for displaying on the display unit 160, and further, image processing for displaying and storing the image output from the camera unit 110. You can perform the operation. Here, the image processing operation extracts and processes an image output from the camera unit 110 (AWB (auto white balance), AE (auto exposure), AF (auto focusing)), lens shading correction, Dead pixel correction, knee correction can be performed (e.g., image preprocessing), and the image processed as above is subjected to color interpolation, noise reduction, color correction, and color conversion An operation of generating data (for example, a post-processing operation) may be performed.

In addition, the image processor 120 obtains photographing information of the image from the camera unit 110. In this case, the photographing information may additionally obtain various information in addition to the exif information that may be obtained when the image is captured by the camera unit 110. The image processor 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention extracts the focus values corresponding to the focus areas of each image photographed by changing the focusing of the camera 110, and stores the extracted focus value in the form of meter data in the image. To be possible. The image processor 120 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention acquires a plurality of images having different focal lengths continuously by moving the focus lens of the camera 110 at a set focus interval in the autofocus photographing mode. The image processor 120 divides the acquired images into a predetermined number of focus regions, extracts focus values of the respective focus regions, and adds the extracted focus values to an image having a corresponding focal length in the form of meter data. To be stored.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the camera unit 110 photographs a plurality of images during image capturing. In this case, the camera unit 110 may include a compression coder to quickly transmit images processed by the image processor 120. In this case, the image processor 120 may process the images generated by the camera unit 110 to generate a display image and a compressed image together. In the embodiment of the present invention, it will be described on the assumption that the image processing unit 120 has a configuration of generating a display image and a compressed image together. However, the image according to the embodiment of the present invention may be used as it is without compression. In this case, the image may have a form such as YUV.

The controller 130 controls the overall operation of the camera device, and controls the operation of displaying and storing the images output from the image processing unit 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the image selected by the user when displaying the stored images. Controls the editing operation. That is, the controller 130 controls to capture a plurality of images corresponding to the respective focuses while the focus lens is driven, and simultaneously focuses the focus regions of the image according to the movement of the focus lens when storing the captured images of each focus. Control to save the values together. In addition, the controller 130 displays a representative image when displaying the stored image, and when the user selects an arbitrary region while displaying the representative image, displays the image having the maximum focus value of the region.

The input unit 160 may generate a general operation command of the camera device, and according to an embodiment of the present invention, an autofocus photographing command for photographing a plurality of images in succession at different focal lengths and for resetting focus among autofocus images A command for refocusing an autofocus image may be generated. In addition, the input unit 160 may generate a command for selecting a focus position for resetting the focus in the image displayed in the autofocus reset mode. In addition, the display unit 150 displays the display image output from the controller 130 in the preview mode. In addition, when displaying the stored image, the display unit 160 displays a representative image from among images captured with different focus under the control of the controller 130, and the user selects an arbitrary area through the input unit 160 while displaying the representative image. In this case, an image having the maximum focus value of the area displayed by the controller 130 is displayed. The input unit 160 may be a touch panel for sensing a user's touch input, and the display unit 150 may be an LCD or an OLED panel. The input unit 160 and the display unit 150 may be an integrated touch screen. In addition, the input unit 160 may include buttons located outside the camera device.

The storage unit 150 stores the plurality of images corresponding to the respective focuses captured by the controller 130 and the focus value extracted from the focus area of the images according to the movement of the focus lens.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a camera unit 110 in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention having the configuration as shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, when a camera driving command is generated, operating power is supplied to the camera unit 110. In addition, the image processor 130 drives the motor 240, and the actuator 250 controls the driving of the optical unit 210 by driving the motor 240. The optical unit 210 may perform an operation such as focus by the actuator 250. Here, the optical unit 210 includes a focus lens, and changes the focus in a focused ultra-depth unit when focusing the image when driving the actuator 250. Then, the optical unit 210 captures an image of the surroundings, and the image sensor 220 detects the image captured by the optical unit 220 and converts the image into an electrical signal. Accordingly, the image sensor 220 may generate the number of images set by changing the focus of the optical unit 210, and the generated images may be images captured at different focal lengths. The image sensor 220 may be an image sensor having a resolution of Full HD or higher. The image detected by the image sensor 220 is converted into a digital image through the AD converter 230 and transmitted to the image processor 120.

Looking at the operation of the camera device having the above configuration, the optical unit 210 of the camera unit 110 has a focus lens, the focus lens is a lens for changing the focus point of the image from below (or above) from above (or below) ) Direction (i.e. short or long focal length), the focus value (FV) of the image is changed accordingly. In this case, the actuator 250 may include a focus actuator, and the focus actuator may move the focus lens. In general, various types of focus actuators may be used, such as a voice coil motor (VCM), a stepping motor, a piezo motor, and the like. The image sensor 220 receives an incoming light through the lens to generate an image.

An image signal processor (ISP) 120 that inputs the output of the camera unit 110 receives and processes image data output from the control of the camera unit 110 and the image sensor 220 of the camera unit 110. Do it. In this case, the image data output from the image processor 120 may be various types of image data (YUV44, YUV422, YUV420, JPEG, etc.) according to the configuration of the image processor 120. Then, the controller 130 stores the image data output from the image processor 120 in the storage 140 and displays it on the display 150. In addition, the controller 130 controls the operation of the camera device according to the operation command of the camera device generated by the input unit 160. The controller 130 may be a CPU, an application processor (AP), a multimedia processor (MMP), a microprocessor, or the like. The storage 140 may temporarily or permanently store image data output from the image processor 120 or the controller 130. That is, the storage unit 140 may be configured as a temporary storage device such as a buffer or RAM and / or a permanent storage device such as a flash memory or a ROM.

At this time, when the user turns on the camera and presses the shooting button, the controller 130 controls the camera 110 to take a picture through the image processor 120. In this case, when photographing is required, the image processor 120 controls the camera unit 110 to control photographing while driving the focus lens at a set focal length. Then, the focus lens of the camera unit 110 is moved to the initial position by the focus actuator. Here, the initial position of the focus lens refers to a portion where the focus lens can start focusing. In general, the focus lens starts focusing from a far point and moves to match a subject image at a close distance (Macro). However, on the contrary, they can start at close distances and move far, and can move in various directions depending on the developer or algorithm. In addition, the interval at which the lens moves (that is, the focal length at which the focus lens moves for focusing) may be set in advance or may be set by the user. The number of images having different focal points captured when a photographing request is made is determined according to the set focal length (moving interval of the focus lens). Accordingly, when the photographing request is made, the camera unit 110 generates a set number of images continuously while moving the focus lens at set intervals (ie, having different focal lengths).

Then, the image processor 120 processes the images output from the camera unit 110 and extracts a focus value (FV) for each focus area of the image after the focus lens moves. The focus area means an area divided to obtain focus values of several areas in one image. In this case, the position of the focus lens having the maximum value of each focus area of the image is determined according to the distance between the camera and the subject. Therefore, the focus value of the corresponding area has a different value for each consecutive image. In this case, the image processing unit 120 generates information (meta data) when the image is taken, in the embodiment of the present invention, the image processing unit 120 extracts a focus value according to a preset focus area and generates the meter data. The image processor 120 may extract a focus value through edge extraction such as a high pass filter.

As described above, the image processor 120 changes the focus by controlling the driving of the focus lens of the camera unit 110 when taking a picture, and receives images that are continuously photographed while having different focuses output from the camera unit 110. Simultaneously process the received images and extract the focus value according to the focal point of the image to generate the meter data.

Then, the controller 120 stores the image output from the image processor 120 and the meter data of the corresponding image in the storage 140. In this case, the controller 130 stores the metadata corresponding to the image, and the meter data includes a focus value for each region of the photographed image. In this case, the method of storing the focus value may be stored together in the form of header information of the image when the file or the image is stored. In addition, the storage method may use a flash memory or a ROM for permanent storage as described above in the configuration of the invention, or may be temporarily stored in a buffer such as RAM for temporary storage.

At this time, when the focus interval (focus interval of the focus lens) set at the time of photographing has N intervals, N images are generated at the time of photographing, and at the same time, the focus values of the respective regions are also included in each image. Generated by the corresponding number. Therefore, the camera apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention when taking a picture continuously photographs N images having different focus, and extracts and stores the focus values for each of the images together.

In the state of capturing an image as described above, a user may selectively process and store an image having a desired focus. That is, after taking a picture, the user may select and store a picture having a focus on a desired area. To this end, when the user selects the photographed picture as described above, the controller 130 displays the representative image on the display unit 150 from the photographed picture. The representative image may be variously set to an image of an initial focus position, a last focus image, an image by a general autofocus algorithm, and the like. When the user selects a desired area while the representative image is displayed on the display unit 150, the controller 130 may select an image having the maximum focus value in the area selected by the user. For example, when the user selects a desired area through the input unit 160 while displaying an image on the display unit 150, the controller 130 receives an input coordinate touched by the input unit 160 and has a maximum focus value at that coordinate. Navigate to the image of the location. In this case, a method of searching for an image having the maximum focus value may be obtained by analyzing a focus value of each region extracted at the time of photographing and stored in the storage 140. If the touch area does not coincide with the predetermined focus area, an image having the largest focus value may be selected from all adjacent focus areas, or the image having the maximum focus value may be selected by summing the focus values of the adjacent areas. It may be. Therefore, when taking a picture, images generated with various focuses are generated, and a user can then select a picture image that is focused in a desired area among the captured images.

In general, a portable terminal having a camera includes an image processor 120 and a controller (application processor) 130 as shown in FIG. 1. However, in the case of a camera device or some portable terminals, the image processor 120 and the controller 130 may be integrally formed. In this case, the controller 130 may be configured to include the image processor 120 therein. In the following description, it will be assumed that the camera device includes an image processor 120 and a controller 130.

The camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention captures a plurality of images having different focal lengths when taking a picture as described above, extracts focus values of respective focus areas of the photographed images, and stores them together with the image. . In this case, the image processor 120 must continuously process images having different focuses. In addition, a shutter lag may exist until a time when the camera unit 110 is driven to acquire an image when the shutter is turned on when taking a picture. In addition, a mobile terminal having a camera may include an image processor 120 for processing an image of the camera 110 and a controller 130 for controlling the overall operation of the terminal, in which case the image processor 120 may transfer the image to the controller 130. When a bottleneck may be generated. Therefore, the image processor 120 compresses the acquired image in order to transmit the image to the controller 130 within a short time while compensating for the shutter.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing the configuration of an image processing unit and a control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing unit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3A, The image processor 320 processes an image output from the camera 110 and extracts a focus value of the image. At this time, the image output from the camera unit 110 is a raw image, and has the number of pixels of the full HD level or more detected by the image sensor 220, the image preprocessing unit 320 is 3A (auto white balance), AE (auto exposure), Image processing functions such as AF (Auto focusing) extraction, color interpolation, and color conversion are performed. In an embodiment of the present invention, the image processing unit 320 processes the image output to the camera unit 110 to process a YUV image and at the same time performs a function of extracting a focus value of each set area of each image.

The scaler 330 scales the image output from the image processor 320 to the size of the display unit 150. Here, the scaler 330 may be a resizer. The coder 340 generates a compressed image by encoding the image processed by the image processor 320. Here, the compressed image may be a JPEG image.

The image processing controller 310 controls the camera unit 110 under the control of the controller 130 to output a control signal for driving the focus lens when taking a picture, and controls the overall operation of processing the image output from the camera unit 110. In addition, the image processing controller 310 may process focus values of respective regions of the images extracted by the image processor 320 as meter data. In addition, meter data (ie, photographing information including a focus value) acquired when capturing the image may be transmitted to the coder 340. In this case, the coder 340 may generate a compressed image including the photographing information.

The multiplexer 350 multiplexes the display image processed by the scaly 330, the compressed image processed by the coder 340, and photographing information including the focus value.

3B is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the controller 130 in the camera apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this case, the controller 130 may be an application processor in the case of a mobile terminal.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the demultiplexer 370 demultiplexes the multiplexed and output images and parses the image into display images, compressed images, and metadata. The buffer 380 may include a display image buffer 383, a compressed image buffer 385, and / or a photographing information buffer 387. In this case, when the coder 340 generates a compressed image including the shooting information, the shooting information buffer 387 may be omitted. The buffer 380 buffers a display image, a compressed image, and / or photographing information, which are respectively parsed under the control of the application processing controller 360. The buffer 380 may have a size capable of buffering N-frame display images, compressed images, and / or photographing information, and the buffer 380 may have a ring buffer structure. The reason why the buffer 380 is configured as a ring buffer structure is to maintain the image and information of the received frame at the set number of frames. The video coder 390 may generate video data by compressing the display image when a video storage request is made. The video coder 390 may be configured with various video encoders such as H.264 and MPEG. In the embodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that the video compression unit is an MPEG coder.

Referring to the operations of the image processor 120 and the controller 130 having the above configuration, the image processing controller 310 controls the camera 110 when photographing a request for photographing continuously while moving the focus lens at a set focus interval. The image processor 320 processes the images received by the camera unit 110 and extracts an auto focus of the processed image to detect a focus value. In this case, the focus value may be a focus value for each area of the image. Therefore, the image processor 320 processes the images continuously photographed by the camera unit 110 and detects the focus values of the respective images, wherein the images are images captured at different focal lengths.

The photographed images are scaled to the size of the display image in the scaler 330, and the coder 340 compresses the image (full resolution image), wherein the compressed image may include photographing information. The photographing information may include a focus value of a corresponding image according to an embodiment of the present invention. The display image and the compressed image as described above are multiplexed by the multiplexer 350 and output to the controller 130.

Then, the demultiplexer 370 of the controller 130 demultiplexes the multiplexed display image and the compressed image and delivers the demultiplexed image to the buffer 380. Then, the buffer 380 buffers the demultiplexed display image and the compressed images, respectively, and the application processing controller 360 outputs the buffered display image to the display unit 150 and displays the buffered display image, and stores the compressed image in the storage unit 140. In this case, when the compressed image does not include the photographing information, the application processing controller 360 stores the photographing information in the photographing information buffer 387 of the buffer 30, and also the photographing information corresponding to storing the compressed image in the storage 140. Save it. In this case, the photographing information includes a focus value of an image corresponding to the above.

As described above, the image stored in the storage 140 may be registered as a list in a gallery or the like, and the user may display thumbnail images of the stored images on the display unit 150 when the gallery application is selected. In this case, when the user selects a thumbnail image to be displayed, the application processing controller 360 detects this through the input unit 160 and displays the selected image on the display unit 150. In this case, if the selected image is an image captured by the auto focus function, the application processing controller 360 displays a representative image among the stored images. Here, the representative image may be set in various forms such as an image of an initial focus position, a last focus image, or an image of a focus position set by a user when shooting.

When the user selects an arbitrary region of the image displayed through the input unit 160 while displaying the representative image as described above, the application processing controller 360 may detect the region of the selected image through the input unit 160. That is, when the input unit 160 is a touch panel, the application processing control unit 360 may detect the touch position coordinates of the user, and check the display area of the image selected by the user based on the detected touch coordinates. Then, the application processing controller 360 selects an image having the maximum focus value in the selected area among the focus values of the images captured by the autofocus and displays the image on the display unit 150. If the coordinates touched by the user do not coincide with the selection area of the image, the application processing controller 360 may select an image having the largest focus value by summing all the focus areas including the touch area of the user.

In this manner, the user can select an image focused on a desired position after taking a picture. That is, after taking a picture by autofocus, the user may select a picture that is focused at a desired location from among pictures having different focal lengths.

4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing unit according to another embodiment of the present invention in a camera apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 4, the preprocessor 410 extracts and processes an image output from the camera 110 from 3A (auto white balance), auto exposure (AE), auto focusing (AF), and lens shading compensation (lens). Performs preprocessing operations such as shading correction, dead pixel correction and knee correction. The image scaler 420 scales the preprocessed image to the display image size. In addition, the pre-processing unit 410 extracts the focus values of the images taken with different focus when autofocus photographing according to an embodiment of the present invention. The post processor 430 processes color interpolation, noise reduction, and color correction of the Bayer data scaled with the display image, and generates YUV data by performing color conversion.

In addition, the buffer 440 buffers the full resolution image of the camera 110 output from the preprocessor 410. The buffer 440 may be set to a size capable of storing frame images to compensate for the shutter lag of the camera device, and may have a ring buffer structure. The buffer 440 buffers the full resolution image output from the preprocessor 410 every frame, and the image of the buffer selected by the control of the image processing controller 400 is accessed when the picture is taken. The post processor 430 processes color interpolation, noise reduction, and color correction of the full resolution image selected from the buffer 440 and converts the color into YUV data. The still image codec 460 compresses and encodes the full resolution image output from the post processor 450.

The multiplexer 470 multiplexes the output of the post-processor 430 and the output of the still image codec 460 under the control of the imager processing controller 400.

Referring to the operation of the image processing unit 120 having the above configuration, during autofocusing, the image processing controller 400 controls the driving of the focus lens at a set focus interval by controlling the camera unit 110, and the camera unit 110 controls the image. Under the control of the processing controller 400, images captured at different focuses are successively output to the preprocessor 410. Then, the preprocessor 410 extracts the focus value of the processed image while preprocessing the image output from the camera 110. The preprocessed image and focus values are buffered in the buffer 440. The image buffered in the buffer 440 is post-processed by the post-processing unit 450, and the photographing information including the post-processed image and the focus value is compressed and encoded in the still image codec 460. Then, the multiplexer 470 multiplexes the display image and the compression-coded image and transmits the multiplexed image to the controller 130.

Here, the preprocessor 410 may be located at the rear end of the scaler 420 and the buffer 400, and the post processor 430 and 450 may be configured as one and may be located at the rear end of the preprocessor 410.

At this time, the image processing unit 120 having the configuration as shown in FIG. 4 separates the configuration for processing the display image and the compressed image, thereby not transmitting the compressed image to the control unit 130 in the preview mode. That is, the image processor 120 may deliver the compressed image to the controller 130 only when photographing is required by the user.

In the camera device according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above-described configuration, a procedure of taking a picture with the autofocus function will be described in detail.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of performing autofocus photographing and editing in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, when a picture is taken, the user may register an autofocus shooting function. Here, the autofocus photographing function refers to a function of continuously photographing while setting a different focus when photographing according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this case, the focus interval may be set when setting the autofocus. When the focus interval is set to N, the photographed image may be taken as an image of N frames, and the N images may be taken at different focus points. . Therefore, when the user sets the autofocus function in the setting mode, the controller 130 detects this while performing steps 511 and 513 and sets the focus interval in step 515. In this case, the focus interval may be set by the user, and a focus interval set as a default may also be used. However, if the autofocus function is not set, the controller 130 detects this in step 513 and sets the corresponding function in step 517.

When the shooting request is generated by the user in the state in which the autofocus function is set as described above, the controller 130 detects it in steps 521 and 523 and performs autofocus shooting in step 525. However, if autofocus shooting is not performed, the controller 130 may perform a shooting operation in the normal shooting mode in step 527. In this case, in the autofocus photographing mode, the camera apparatus continuously photographs images having different focus while moving the focus lens at set intervals, and stores the photographed images together with the focus value.

After taking a picture using the autofocus function as described above, a picture focused on a desired position can be selected from the taken pictures. When the user selects the picture taken by the autofocus, the controller 130 detects it in step 531 and displays the representative image on the display unit 150. When the user selects a specific region from the displayed representative image, the controller 130 displays it in step 531. In operation 533, the controller 110 detects the focus reset and selects the photo having the maximum focus value in the touch area and displays it on the display unit 150. However, if the focus reset operation is not performed in step 533, the controller 130 displays a picture in step 537 and performs a function requested by the user.

In the following description, operations of step 525 of taking and processing pictures with the autofocus function and step 535 of resetting focus after taking pictures will be described in detail.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of performing an autofocus photographing operation in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating an example of a focus area and an image of autofocused images according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating an example of a focus value extracted from an image as illustrated in FIG. 7A. It is a figure which shows the example of a change of the focus value according to the position of the focus lens for each area.

Referring to FIG. 6, when the user turns on the camera and presses the photographing button, the controller 130 detects this and notifies the image processor 120 that the photograph is taken. In operation 611, the image processor 120 drives the focus actuator of the camera unit 110 to move the focus lens to the initial position. In this case, the initial position means an initial position at which the focus lens starts photographing. In general, the focus lens starts focusing from a far (Far) and performs a focusing operation to match an image of a subject at a close distance (Macro). On the contrary, the focus operation may be performed at a long distance starting from a short distance, and the user may set the initial focus position. In addition, an interval at which the focus lens moves (ie, a focus interval and a focal length interval) may be set as a default, and may be set by a user in the setting mode as described above.

When the focus lens is moved to the initial position as described above, the image sensor of the camera unit 110 generates an image focused by the focus lens and outputs the image to the image processor 120. In operation 613, an image output from the camera unit 110 is input and processed. In operation 615, a focus value of the processed image is detected. In this case, the focus value may be extracted for each focus area of the captured image. In operation 617, the image processor 120 transmits the image and the extracted focus value to the controller 130, and the controller 130 stores the image and the focus value FV in the storage 140. In this case, the method of storing the focus value FV may be stored together in the form of header information of the image when the file or the image is stored. In addition, the storage method may use a flash memory or a ROM for permanent storage as described above in the configuration of the invention, or may be temporarily stored in a buffer such as RAM for temporary storage.

In operation 619, the image processor 120 checks whether the image currently captured is the last focus position. That is, in step 619, the image processor 120 determines whether the focus lens is the last position where the focus lens can be moved. However, if it is not the last position, the image processing unit 120 drives the focus actuator of the camera unit 110 in step 621 to move the focus lens to the next focus position, and returns to step 613. The image processor 120 repeats steps 613 to 621 to capture an image of the last focus position. When the above process is performed, the image processor 120 stores the images photographed by moving the focus lens at every set focus interval and a focus value (FV) value of each focus area of the image.

Here, the focus area means a region divided to obtain focus values of several regions in one image, as shown in 700 of FIG. 7A. Therefore, when the image of FIG. 7A is taken, the focus values of the subjects A to D are extracted differently according to the focus interval. That is, when autofocusing while moving the focus interval, the maximum focus value may be extracted from the focus area D when the subject 717 is in focus, and the focus area C including the focus area C when the subject 715 is in focus. A high focus value may be extracted from the upper and lower focus areas of and adjacent to the focus areas of the upper and lower focus areas of the camera. When the focus is focused on the subject 713, the maximum focus value may be extracted from the focus area 713. The maximum focus value may be extracted from the focus area A. Therefore, the focus lens position having the maximum value for each focus region of the image has a different value according to the position (distance) of the camera and the subject. The image processor 120 may extract a focus value according to a preset focus area. In this case, the focus value extraction may be performed through edge extraction such as a high pass filter.

When taking an image like FIG. 7A, as shown in FIG. 7B, the focus lens moves from the initial lens position “x” to the next focus position “x + f (1)”, and in this way, the last position of the focus lens. Shooting moves to "x + f (N)". Where x is the initial position of the focus lens and f (1) -f (N) is the next focus lens position that is set. In this case, it is assumed that the focus position is focused from a far distance to a close distance, and assume that the subject 711 is located farthest from the user and the subject 717 is located closest to the user. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7B, the maximum focus values of the subjects 711 to 717 are detected according to the focus lens positions. In this case, it can be seen that the focus lens positions at which the maximum focus values of the respective focus regions come from different values. In FIG. 7B, FV_max means a maximum focus value. Therefore, when autofocusing the image as shown in FIG. 7A, focus values as shown in FIG. 7B may be extracted. In general, the maximum value of the focus value FV for each focus region may be obtained as in Equation 1 by a well-known lens formula.

In Equation 1, a denotes a distance between a subject and a lens, b denotes a distance between a lens and an image sensor, and f denotes a focal length. Therefore, as illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B, in the case of a close object 711 (MACRO) such as the focus area “D”, the image sensor and the focus lens of the camera unit 110 are far away, such as the “D_FVmax” position. A far-away subject FAR, such as a subject 711, is located at a closer position, such as A_FVmax. That is, the maximum focus value FV is obtained at positions of different focus lenses according to the distance between the subject and the camera unit 110.

A procedure of selecting and / or editing an image of a desired focus position while storing an image and a focus value captured by the procedure shown in FIG. 8 will be described. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of resetting focus of an autofocused image in a camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 9A through 9C are diagrams illustrating examples of a focus area having a maximum focus value among autofocus images according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10A to 10D illustrate a display example of a focus area having a maximum focus value using a scroll bar according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

8 to 10D, the resetting of focus according to an embodiment of the present invention may be started while displaying an autofocused image. When the user selects a list of photos (eg, a gallery) through the input unit 160 and selects a specific image among thumbnail images displayed on the display unit 150, the controller 130 determines whether the selected image is an image captured by autofocus. . In this case, if the image is captured by autofocus, the controller 130 detects this and displays the representative image among the images on the display unit 150 in step 811. Here, the representative image is one of autofocused images, and may be an image of an initial focus position, a last focus image, or an image by an autofocus algorithm.

When the user touches a specific area of the image displayed on the display unit 150 while displaying the representative image as described above, the controller 130 detects the focus area of the position touched by the input unit 160 in step 813 to determine the detected focus area. Detect it as input to reselect the image. In this case, when the input unit 160 is a touch panel, the controller 130 detects the position coordinates touched by the input unit 160, and determines a focus area corresponding to the touch coordinates in step 815, and among the images stored in the storage unit 140. The image of the focus lens position having the maximum focus value in the selected focus area is searched. Thereafter, the controller 130 selects and displays an image having the maximum value in the focus area selected by the user.

Then, if a storage request is generated from the user, the controller 130 detects this in step 819 and stores the displayed image in the storage 140 in step 821. In this case, the image stored in the storage 140 may be stored as a representative image of the autofocus image. The above operation may be repeatedly performed until the termination request is generated by the user. When the termination request is generated by the user, the controller 130 detects this in step 823 and terminates the focus reset procedure of the autofocus image.

That is, the camera apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention captures and stores a plurality of images at a set focus interval while performing the procedure as shown in FIG. 6, wherein the stored images are focused on different positions according to the focus interval. It becomes. The above images are stored together with the focus values extracted for each focus area. Thus, the stored photographic images become photographic images focused at various positions. When the user selects a photographic image while storing the above autofocus images, the camera apparatus displays a representative image of the autofocus while performing the procedure of FIG. 8, and selects a desired position from the displayed representative image. In this case, the controller 130 may select and store a photo image (ie, a photo image having a maximum focus value in a focus area selected by the user) focused on a desired position of the user.

9A to 9C, FIG. 9A is focused on region B, FIG. 9B is focused on region A, and FIG. 9C is focused on region C, where the representative image is assumed to be FIG. 9A. In this case, when the display of the autofocus image is selected, the controller 130 displays the image shown in FIG. 9A on the display unit 150. In this state, when the user touches the area A while displaying an image as shown in FIG. 9A, the controller 130 searches for an image having the maximum focus value in the area A among the focus values stored in the storage 140, and displays the search result. Accordingly, images shown in FIG. 9B having the maximum focus value in the area A are displayed on the display unit 150. When the user requests storage, the controller 130 stores the image having the maximum focus value in the area A as the representative image as shown in FIG. 9B. In addition, when the user touches the region C in the state of displaying the image as shown in FIG. 9A, the controller 130 searches for an image having the maximum focus value in the region C among the focus values stored in the storage 140. Accordingly, images shown in FIG. 9C having the maximum focus value in the region C are displayed on the display unit 150. When the user requests storage, the controller 130 stores the image having the maximum focus value in the region C as a representative image as shown in FIG. 9C.

In this case, the method for finding an image having the maximum focus value may be obtained by analyzing the extracted focus value by performing the procedure of FIG. 6. In this case, if the area touched by the user does not match the focus area set as shown in FIG. 7A, the controller 130 analyzes all areas including or adjacent to the touch area of the user, and the largest focus value of the focus area is determined. You can also select an image. In this case, when the image having the maximum focus value is found, the controller 130 may implement the method of showing the intermediate images between the current and the final image so as to smoothly change the image without showing the searched image at once.

In addition, after taking a plurality of pictures with different focus while performing the procedure as shown in FIG. 6, after storing the focus value together with the captured image, the focus may be reset using the scroll bar as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. . In this case, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the scroll bar is at the leftmost side, the camera device shows an image (macro direction image) closest to the focus lens, and then moves the scroll bar to the right as shown in FIGS. Accordingly, the focus lens displays an image moving in the distant (Far direction image) direction. At this time, if the user stops the scroll bar at a desired position and selects the corresponding image, the camera device may select an image having the maximum focus value at the corresponding position. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10D, the scroll bar may be used to select the focus image having the maximum focus value at the position where the user wants to reset the focus.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the image may be stored by taking a picture at a set focus interval at the time of taking a picture, and the focus may be reset by extracting the focus values of the images taken with different focus in the focus resetting process. That is, in FIG. 6, the image signal processor 120 sets the focus differently to extract focus values of consecutive images, and stores the focus values extracted together with the image according to the position of the focus lens. However, the same effect can be obtained even when the picture is taken at a set focus interval to store the image, and the controller 130 processes the stored images to reset the focus value for each focus area.

11 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which a camera apparatus photographs images of different focus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 11, when the user presses the photographing button, the controller 130 detects this and notifies the image processor 120 that the photograph is taken. In operation 1111, the image processor 120 drives the focus actuator of the camera unit 110 to move the focus lens to the initial position. In this case, the initial position means an initial position at which the focus lens starts photographing. When the focus lens is moved to the initial position as described above, the image sensor of the camera unit 110 generates an image focused by the focus lens and outputs the image to the image processor 120. In operation 1113, the image output from the camera 110 is input and processed. In operation 1115, the processed image is transmitted to the controller 130, and the controller 130 stores the image in the storage 140.

In operation 1117, the image processor 120 checks whether the image currently captured is the last focus position. That is, in step 1117, the image processor 120 determines whether the focus lens is the last position to move, and if the current focus lens position is the last position, the shooting ends. However, if it is not the last position, the image processing unit 120 drives the focus actuator of the camera unit 110 in step 1119 to move the focus lens to the next focus position, and returns to step 1113. The image processor 120 photographs the image of the last focus position while repeating steps 1113 to 1119. When the above process is performed, the image processor 120 stores the images captured by moving the focus lens at every set focus interval.

After capturing and storing a plurality of images having different focuses at a set focus interval while performing the procedure of FIG. 11, the user may select an image having a focus at a desired position among the stored images. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of refocusing a captured image according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention in a camera apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 12, the focus reset may be started while displaying an autofocused image. When the user selects the auto focus image through the input unit 160, the controller 130 extracts the focus value for each region of the autofocus images stored in operation 1211. In this case, the focus value extraction for each region of the image may use the same method as that of the image processing unit 120. The controller 130 stores the focus value for each focus region of the image in the storage 140. That is, the controller 100 sequentially selects images while performing steps 1211 and 1213 when selecting an autofocus image, extracts a focus value for each focus region of the selected image, and stores the image to correspond to the image. The above procedure is repeated until the last image taken.

In operation 1215, the controller 100 displays a representative image of the autofocus image on the display unit 150. In this case, the representative image is one of autofocus captured images, and may be an image of an initial focus position, a last focus image, or a default image set by the system. When the user touches a specific area of the image displayed on the display unit 150 while the representative image is displayed, the controller 130 detects the focus area of the touched position through the input unit 160 in step 1217. In this case, the focus position may be set in the input unit 160. That is, when the input unit 160 is a touch panel, the controller 130 may detect a focus area from the coordinate value of the touched position. In addition, when the scroll bar is displayed on the display unit 150, the controller 1300 may detect the focus position by detecting the movement of the scroll bar as illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10D. When the poker TM position is selected in the same manner as described above, the controller 130 detects it in step 1217, determines the focus area corresponding to the selected position in step 1219, and then selects the selected focus area from the images stored in the storage 140. Searches for the image of the focus lens position having the maximum focus value. In operation 1221, the controller 130 selects and displays an image having the maximum value in the focus area selected by the user.

Then, if a storage request is generated from the user, the controller 130 detects this in step 1223 and stores the displayed image in the storage 140 in step 1225. In this case, the image stored in the storage 140 may be stored as a representative image of the autofocus image. The above operation may be repeatedly performed until the termination request is generated by the user. When the termination request is generated by the user, the controller 130 detects this in step 1227 and terminates the focus reset procedure of the autofocus image.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, when autofocus shooting is required, the image processor 120 stores each image in the storage 140 while the focus lens moves from the initial position to the last position. In this case, the image processor 120 captures and stores an autofocus image while performing the procedure of FIG. 11.

Thereafter, when the focus is reset, the controller 130 extracts a focus value of each focus area of the stored images while performing steps 1211 and 1213 of FIG. 12 and stores the extracted focus values in correspondence with a corresponding image. . In this case, the controller 130 may extract a focus value through various image post processing methods such as edge extraction of an image or high pass fitler (HPF). The controller 130 may store the extracted focus value analysis result for each image in a focus lens position having a maximum focus value FVmax for each region by a look-up table or an arbitrary text file.

Thereafter, the controller 130 displays the representative image on the display in operation 1215 of FIG. 12 and waits for the user to reset the focus. In this case, when the user selects a specific part of the image to reset the focus as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9C, the controller 130 corresponds to the position of the focus lens having the maximum focus value at the selected part while performing steps 1217 to 1221. The image is found, and the image is displayed on the display unit 130. In this case, the intermediate image of the focus lens position image having the maximum focus value and the lens position of the current state may be displayed so as to smoothly see the image instead of showing it at once. In addition, the focus position reset may be implemented by using a scroll bar as illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10D. After resetting the focus position, if the controller 130 selects to store (or cancel) the reset image in steps 1223 to 1227, the controller 130 saves (or cancels) the image and ends the focus reset process.

The embodiments of the present invention disclosed in the present specification and drawings are merely illustrative of specific embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications based on the technical idea of the present invention are possible in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims (20)

In the image processing method of the camera device,
Continuous focusing by moving the focus lens at a set focus interval, an autofocus shooting process for extracting the focus values for the focus areas of the photographed image and saving them with the image,
And displaying a representative image of the stored autofocus images, and selecting and storing an image having a maximum focus value in a focus area of a selected position when selecting a location of the representative image. The method of claim 1, wherein the autofocus photographing process comprises:
Acquiring an image at a set focus position;
Extracting focus values of focus regions of the obtained image;
Storing the extracted focus value with an image;
Checking the focus position and ending the photographing operation if the focus position is the last focus position; otherwise, changing the focus position to the next position, and then repeating the above process. The method of claim 2, wherein the changing of the focus position drives a focus actuator to move the focus lens at a predetermined interval. The method of claim 2, wherein the focus value extraction divides the image into a plurality of focus regions, and extracts focus values of the divided regions. The method of claim 4, wherein the focus value extraction is performed by extracting an edge of an image, a high frequency filter, or the like. The method of claim 2, wherein the focus value is stored in the image in the form of meter data. The method of claim 2, wherein the focus reset process comprises:
Displaying a representative image when selecting an autofocus image;
Selecting an image having the maximum focus value in the selected focus area when selecting a random focus area from the displayed representative image;
And storing the selected image as the refocused image. The method of claim 7, wherein the selecting of the image comprises checking a focus area from the detected touch position and analyzing the focus values of the identified focus area when detecting a touch in the displayed image. Selecting. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying a selected image when selecting the image.
The displaying of the image may include displaying an intermediate image of a currently displayed image and an image having a maximum focus value, thereby naturally displaying a change in focus of the image. The method of claim 8, wherein the selecting of the image comprises selecting an image of a focus area having a maximum focus value from among focus areas adjacent to the touch location or by summing adjacent focus areas if the touch-sensitive location is not a focus area. And further comprising selecting. The method of claim 7, wherein the selecting of the image further comprises a scroll bar on the displayed image and analyzing the focus value of the selected focus area according to the movement of the scroll bar to select the image having the maximum focus value. How to. In the camera device,
A camera unit for continuous shooting while moving the focus lens at a set focus interval;
An image processing unit which extracts a focus value of focus areas of the image photographed by the camera unit and transmits the focus value together with the image;
A storage unit for storing the focus value and the image;
An image and a focus value transmitted from the image processing unit are stored in the storage unit, and when the focus is reset, the representative image of the stored autofocus is displayed, and the image having the maximum focus value in the focus area at a position selected from the displayed representative image. A control unit for selecting and storing the storage unit;
And a display unit for displaying an image under the control of the controller. The method of claim 12,
And the image processing unit controls the focus lens of the camera unit to be moved at a set interval, and extracts a focus value of focus areas of images continuously photographed from the moving focus position and transmits the focus values together with the image. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the camera unit drives the focus actuator under the control of the image processor to move the focus lens at set intervals and to take an image. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the image processor extracts a focus value from edge extraction or high frequency filtering of the image. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the image processor transmits a focus value to the image in the form of meter data in the image. The display apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to display the representative image on the display unit when the autofocus image is selected, and to adjust the focus by selecting an image having the maximum focus value in the selected focus region when selecting a random focus region from the displayed representative image. And store the stored image in the storage unit. The method of claim 17, wherein, when detecting touch detection in the displayed image, the controller checks a focus area from the detected touch position, analyzes focus values of the identified focus area, and selects an image having a maximum focus value. Characterized in that the device. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the controller further displays a scroll bar on the representative image to be displayed, and selects an image having a maximum focus value by analyzing a focus value of a selected focus area according to the movement of the scroll bar. In the image processing method of the camera device,
Autofocus shooting process that moves the focus lens at a set focus interval and saves continuously.
Extracts a focus value for the focus areas of the stored images upon request to reset the focus, and displays a representative image of the stored autofocus image, and has a maximum focus value in the focus area of the selected position when selecting a focus position from the displayed representative image. A method for resetting the focus to select and save an image.

Images